Rating: 
Summary: beautifully written
Review: I was never a fan of Madeleine L'Engle's until I read this book. I had never read any of her other books, such as _A Wrinkle In Time_, and when I received _The Small Rain_ for a Christmas present I read it in a day. This is a wonderful book, the characters in it are very real. As musician and a teenager myself I can identify with many of Katherine's experiences. This is a truly wonderful book and I cannot wait to read it's companion _A Severed Wasp_.
Rating:
Summary: Best Real-Life Story
Review: Katherine's experiences at her boarding school are so realistic and relative to my friend's experience it was uncanny. I was not surprised by how Sarah turned out. You could tell by the way she was there for Katherine but yet totally impersonal. I cried so hard towards the end of the book because of what happens to her engagement. I love Katherine's determination and her amazing love-life really caused me to accept how pople change. I would absoloutly recomend this book to anyone who wants an excellent read.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a must-read for any L'Engle fan.
Review: Katherine's life mirrors my own in some ways, with failed teenage romances, friends like Sarah who suddenly change their characters and are no longer your friend and the search for happiness through one's talent (in her case, music, in my case, writing). I appreciated reading about these things because it made me feel like my experiences were more normal than I had believed and I felt less isolated by them.I was also glad I didn't have to wait 37 years for the sequel to this book (according to the introduction to The Small Rain, that's how long it took L'Engle before she felt she could write about Katherine again). L'Engle leaves us hanging at the end of The Small Rain, wondering what will happen to Katherine next. And what does happen to her in A Severed Wasp is shocking and exciting. If you read The Small Rain, you have to read A Severed Wasp. I had only two disapointments with The Small Rain. I thought Katherine drank way too much at times. But perhaps I see it that way as I'm looking at it from a North American perspective. Under-age drinking is much less taboo in Europe. Nonetheless, I felt it cheapened her character to have her drink so much. The other thing I didn't like was L'Engle's view of homosexuality in The Small Rain. There is a description of a lesbian in The Small Rain that is no less than disturbing and inaccurate. I thought Katherine and Sarah's suspected lesbian relationship was well-handled but L'Engle destroyed any valid point she was trying to make with that scene with the later description of the lesbian. I've often wondered if L'Engle has used her novels to overcome her own feelings of homophobia. In the sequel to The Small Rain, A Severed Wasp, Katherine shows that she is no longer homophobic. I think that L'Engle is using Katherine to show her own progression of feelings on this issue. This can also be seen in A House Like a Lotus and A Live Coal in the Sea, where characters overcome their homophobia and we see gay couples in loving relationships.
Rating:
Summary: And it was her first novel!
Review: Reading this book made me feel real. The depth that L'Engle creates with Katherine overwhelms the reader, and brings you into it. It was so realistic and I felt like I had so much in common with Katherine. It's hard to put into words exactly how wonderful this book really is. The emotions I felt as I read it are undescribable. But anytime I read L'Engle she puts my life back into perspective. She makes me feel like everything will be alright again. I really recommend this book to anyone who feels confused and like the world just keeps spinning around them and they still don't get it. And anyone who gets angry at God sometimes when life doesn't make sense. It's consoling and reassuring. Anyway, I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: A Book to be Praised
Review: Reading this book made me feel real. The depth that L'Engle creates with Katherine overwhelms the reader, and brings you into it. It was so realistic and I felt like I had so much in common with Katherine. It's hard to put into words exactly how wonderful this book really is. The emotions I felt as I read it are undescribable. But anytime I read L'Engle she puts my life back into perspective. She makes me feel like everything will be alright again. I really recommend this book to anyone who feels confused and like the world just keeps spinning around them and they still don't get it. And anyone who gets angry at God sometimes when life doesn't make sense. It's consoling and reassuring. Anyway, I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: This is the best book I have ever read.
Review: The first Madeleine L'Engle book I have ever read was "A Ring Of Endless Light," and having read it over about 8 times, which I rarely ever do with a book, I decided to try out another one of her books. It ended up being "The Small Rain." This book is soo awesome, I mean, you really feel and can relate to Katherine. I totally reccomend it to everyone. Its very inspirational although I wish Mrs. L'Engle would have written a book after this about Katherine and Justin and what happened, not like A Severed Wasp, when she is just reflecting on her life. Well, I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.
Rating:
Summary: This is the best book I have ever read.
Review: The first Madeleine L'Engle book I have ever read was "A Ring Of Endless Light," and having read it over about 8 times, which I rarely ever do with a book, I decided to try out another one of her books. It ended up being "The Small Rain." This book is soo awesome, I mean, you really feel and can relate to Katherine. I totally reccomend it to everyone. Its very inspirational although I wish Mrs. L'Engle would have written a book after this about Katherine and Justin and what happened, not like A Severed Wasp, when she is just reflecting on her life. Well, I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful depiction of an artists' subtle / dramatic life.
Review: The Small Rain is the first novel of a series by Madeleine L'Engle written about a young woman artist. The story, which portrays the young artist's struggle into maturity, is exceptionally believable and poignantly written. Ms. L'Engle's style of writing is characteristically graceful and makes this novel a joy to read.
Rating:
Summary: You can't appreciate A Severed Wasp without this one first
Review: The Small Rain was Madeleine L'Engle's first book, and it contains many of the elements which would be developed further in later books: continent-hopping teen whose unusual creativity and family background alienate her from her peers and from the ordinary adults who oversee them; unavailable parents whose very absence somehow communicates a kind of trust which she takes as emotional support; a breakthrough that validates the protagonist. In The Small Rain, much of Katherine's life is either heartbreaking or bleak, but there is a hauntingly sweet evening at a carnival in provincial France which this reader found impossible to forget. A Severed Wasp -- which is not on the amazon.com database -- picks up Katherine's story about 50 years later, and I can't praise it highly enough. The motifs of the original book are woven beautifully into the sequel, and the carnival returns in a pivotal scene which left me gasping -- literally. L'Engle fans MUST NOT miss these two books. For those who like to mix up their arts, I recommend that after reading these books, you listen to "Spring Comes to Wiesenthal," from Friedmann's recording Legends of Light(Narada). If ever a book was put to music, this is it.
Rating:
Summary: Plot lovers, stay away!
Review: There really is no plot to this book. Readers who are fans of Ms. L'Engle's youth fiction, like me, should exercise some caution before reading this book. Upon opening the pages, you will not escape into worlds of fantasy where your imagination is challenged with every word. Here, a more realistic story is presented. It is one of Madeleine L'Engle's "adult" books, and it is quite good, if you approach it with the right mindset. The story centers around Katherine Forrester, who has lived her entire life surrounded by artists. Now, these are not necessarily artists in the sense that Monet or Picasso was an artist; they are artistic in the "arts"- music, acting, etc. Of course, artists live in a world that most of us left-brained people cannot quite understand. This novel excellently depicts the life that true artists live. We are given unique insight into Katherine's soul, something rarely found in today's literature. Most times, characterization is ignored for a riveting plot. Katherine Forrester stirs up remembrances of Jane Austen heroines- the girls you actually knew and understood. Katherine is a fabulously flawed character that I completely loved. I felt after I read this book that I had made a new friend and discovered a new world. The book made me think. It's about time I could say that again.
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